C.J. Browder’s stellar University of South Carolina Beaufort softball season has culminated in first-team NAIA All-American honors.

Browder, a junior shortstop, was one of 20 players selected to the first team Friday. USCB sophomore pitcher Kristy Cook was named honorable mention.

In her first season after transferring from Northwest Florida State, Browder was the Sand Sharks’ top offensive threat and the Sun Conference player of the year.

Browder led USCB in runs (57), hits (78), doubles (16), home runs (17), runs batted in (69) and slugging percentage (.937). She finished fourth in the country in slugging and batting average (.491), third in RBIs per game (1.45) and tied for sixth in home runs.

Cook, the Sun Conference pitcher of the year, went 22-2. She did not take a loss until the final day of the season, with a pair of NAIA Opening Round defeats against eventual World Series runner-up Spring Hill (Ala.). She finished with a 1.86 earned-run average and 147 strikeouts over 169 1/3 innings.

Sand Sharks earn NAIA Scholar-Athlete honors

Five USCB student-athletes have been awarded the NAIA-Daktronics Scholar-Athlete distinction for the spring season.

Women’s golfers Kelli Nakano and Kaitlin O’Sullivan, track & field athlete John Stanas, baseball player Erik Armstrong and softball player Katie Rietkovich received the honor. To qualify, a student-athlete must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and must have achieved junior academic and athletic status.

This group is not new to honors. All five previously were named to the Sun Conference Academic All-Conference team for their respective sports, and Rietkovich earned Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-District honors. Nakano, O’Sullivan and Rietkovich also were named All-Sun Conference in their sports.

It’s the fourth NAIA-Daktronics Scholar-Athlete distinction for Stanas, a Bluffton High School graduate who has won the award twice for cross country and twice for track. Stanas transferred to USCB in 2009 after spending his freshman year at Clemson to join several former Bluffton teammates with the Sand Sharks.

Nakano and O’Sullivan were recognized for the second time, while Armstrong and Rietkovich earned the distinction for the first time.

Stanus also was one of four Sand Sharks named Thursday to the CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-District Team for cross country and track & field. The others were fellow senior Samantha Willcutt and sophomores Byron Thomas and Meleah Powers.

Stanas, a recent graduate of USCB with a dual degree in biology and English, entered his final semester with a 3.69 GPA. He was tabbed for Academic All-District honors for the second consecutive year.

Stanas and Thomas, who boasts a 3.64 GPA, both earned All-Sun Conference honors as part of the 4x400 relay team that finished third at the conference meet. Stanas also was a contributor to USCB men’s cross country team that finished fifth in the Sun Conference.

Willcutt, who recently graduated with a degree in early childhood education, entered her final semester with a 3.32 GPA. As a senior, she helped the Sand Sharks finish third at the Sun Conference Championships by scoring in the javelin and hammer throw.

Powers, who has a perfect 4.0 GPA in business administration, was the No. 3 runner for USCB’s women’s cross country team at the Sun Conference Championships, helping the Sand Sharks finish fourth. She also played on the Sand Sharks’ soccer team in the fall but had to sit out the track season this spring because of injury.

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